Snoring and Sleep Apnea

Thirty to fifty percent of adults snore.  Snoring increases with age and is more common in men than in women.  Forty percent of men and twenty percent of women over thirty snore habitually.  Fifty percent of them have obstructive sleep apnea which can be life threatening. Alarmingly, eighty percent of them are undiagnosed.

Proper diagnosis for sleep apnea is necessary before treating snoring.  Snorers don’t necessarily have OSA or OSA patients are not necessarily snorers.

 Most common form of sleep apnea is Obstructive Sleep Apnea or OSA.   Mild to moderate OSA can be effectively treated by dentists using oral appliances.  Favorable compliance with use of oral appliances makes it a more successful option of treating OSA than the more cumbersome and the less favored medical options. 

Causes of air passage restriction include that cause snoring and/or sleep apnea include-

Obstruction of nasal airway

Weak throat muscles with advancing age or use of medications and alcohol.

Sleeping position

Obesity

It is said that we can live three weeks without food, three days without water but only three minutes without oxygen. OSA can take off twelve to fifteen years of one’s life while smoking and Type 2 Diabetes shorten by five to ten years.

Consult your dentist or sleep physician for more information on the condition and treatment options.

 Call 909 627-6699 for appointment or visit www.mydentistchino.com  for more  information on our services.

Toothless!

Changes in Dentistry

"My dentist just retired" exclaimed a patient after the dentist she has been seeing for over two decades retired.  A mix of disappointment and anxiety was quite evident in her comment..
With each retiring dentist or physician,   traditional healthcare, as we know it; is disappearing.  Hence the anxiety of these patients with long term relationships with their healthcare providers is quite understandable.

 With the infiltration of health maintenance organizations, personalized care has significantly eroded. Very few practices are able to balance current standards of regulation, digitalization, drastic insurance reimbursement reductions  and yet maintain one on one care. Unable to cope with the steep rise in multi faceted  challenges, many quality oriented health care providers have retired and or moved onto associate roles in corporate settings.

At conventions and other dental professional gatherings, I have been labeled a "walking dinosaur" for managing a solo private practice with traditional care.. With added vigilance and regular updating of technology and professional skills, it is still rewarding to extend personalized care to each of our patients. At the end of the day, there is more gratification with our professional work and patients certainly appreciate and value  the continuity of care.

"After all health care is a service where the building of trust, rapport and an ongoing relationship is just as important as rendering appropriate care" adds Dr. Cherukuri from her Chino, California practice.  "When the focus is on exceptional patient care, business aspects simply align themselves and fall into place.

 Visit www.chinosmiles.com for the online reviews.